Presented by Mildura & District Historical Society and compiled by Mildura Rural City Council Libraries.
100 YEARS AGO: 1924
BURNED: Vale’s Bakery in Red Cliffs was the scene of a fire early this morning. A neighbour gave the alarm, and Mr Chester managed to release the horses which were stabled in an adjoining stall and pull the carts out of the danger zone. Firemen were quickly on the scene, but owing to their being no water main, the attack had to be made with buckets. Mr Vale said Red Cliffs would be without its main bread supply.
STEAK HOLDER: Several fine mobs of cattle are grazing on the country surrounding the Gol Gol swamp on the New South Wales side of the river. These cattle are being held there as beef for Mildura by Messrs Crozier and Company for the Langtree Avenue Butchery and are under the charge of Mr Harry Withers. Two lots – from Tintinology and Ned’s Corner – are very good, but a mob that came down from Netley about a week ago are of the sort that Mr Dunn breeds there and prides himself in; they have earned the name, by their looks, of being absolutely the finest mob ever seen in this district.
SEND IT: The Deputy PMC has informed Mr P G Stewart, MP, that approval has been made of the inauguration of a tri-weekly mail service to Ginquam. It has also been decided to establish a receiving post office at that place. It has also been decided, after inquiry, that the inauguration of a twice weekly mail service between Red Cliffs and Thurla is justified, and will be arranged for in due course.
75 YEARS AGO: 1949
LIMITED: Petrol tickets to be used when rationing returns next Tuesday week will be obtainable at Mildura Post Office. The issue will be for two and a half months – until January 31. A special schedule for the two and a half months issue had been received. Petrol licences 2F, the general private consumer’s, would be worth 24 gallons. Old petrol licences may be used if the holder still uses his vehicle for the same purpose, but motorists who have destroyed their old licences or bought cars since rationing ended must apply for new licences. Petrol tickets will not be issued between December 17 and January 2, because the post office will be too busy with Christmas mail during that period.
FOR THE KIDS: Werrimull and Meringur will have infant welfare centres if the Health Department approves of premises to be made available to Mildura Shire Council. Shire Secretary (Mr A D Harvey) said this yesterday when reporting to the Council at its monthly meeting. He said the centres would be part-time, operating perhaps only one day a month. They would be attended by either of the Council’s infant welfare sisters. Transport to the country centres would be available when the Health Department approved of a subsidy up to 700 pounds for the provision of a vehicle for the job.
GO WITH THE FLOW: The PS Invincible and the barge Vega, which arrived in Mildura from Echuca on Friday night, left on Saturday morning en route to Renmark. Both the steamer and barge have been bought by Pendle’s Motor Service, of Renmark, which plans to convert the barge to a tourist diesel boat for the Renmark-Murray Bride run. For the past few years, the Invincible and Vega have been used to take logs to the Koondrook sawmills.
50 YEARS AGO: 1974
MILKING IT: Sunraysia Dairies will introduce the new milk carton date stamp scheme, following talks with the Department of Agriculture. Cartons of milk will now carry the words “sell by” and a date. These dates will always be four days ahead of the calendar, giving shopkeepers four days in which to sell. The system is already in use on the polyester bags of milk. The new scheme will involve stamping about 10,000 cartons each morning.
HAY HAY!: Five Carwarp men yesterday put the finishing touches to what is probably the biggest haystack in the Mallee. It took the men three days to build the stack, which is bigger than a large house. The stack is built on the 640-acre property “Sunshine Farm” on the Calder Highway, eight miles from Red Cliffs. The men used two trucks, a semi-trailer, a bale loader and elevator to complete the stack, which has a total of 3700 bales of oaten hay in it. The haystack was built to a special design, taken from a plan published by a recent farming journal. Each layer is different from the next six. The plan is then repeated. This ensures that no matter how long the stack is kept, there is no danger of it tumbling.
POWER: Pooncarie will switch to its own electricity supply on Saturday, November 30, in a twilight “lighting up” ceremony. It is the last town in the Murray River County Council area to be converted to a reticulated system, doing away with private generators. The power line which crosses the Darling River in two places has been described as “an engineering masterpiece.” There are 45 miles of main line. The rest – out of Wentworth – has been up for about 20 years but was reconditioned to carry the large voltage. The power line goes through 18 grazing properties between Wentworth and Pooncarie. This cost each grazier $8000.
25 YEARS AGO: 1999
RESPECT: The unveiling and dedication of the Mildura Honour Roll recently erected in Henderson Park will take place this Sunday. The honour roll is dedicated to those who served in World War 2, Korea and Southeast Asia, Borneo and Vietnam wars. The names of all men and women listed are those who resided in Mildura, Nichols Point, Irymple and Koorlong at the time of their enlistment. Committee Chairman Milton Whiting said the project had been developed over the last nine years and was made possible by the Mildura Rural City Council, the RSL and the Veteran Affairs Department at a cost of $33,000.
LEGACY: Mildura’s last World War 1 veteran, 99-year-old Eric Hughes, was fiercely patriotic of his country and the Sunraysia district. Former neighbour Roy Burr said Mr Hughes was a remarkable man who was “loved for his love of Mildura”. Mr Hughes passed away at the Mildura Private Hospital last Friday, but not before leaving a legacy of a rich life and love for music. His father Bernard worked for George Chaffey when first arriving in Mildura and up until two months ago Mr Hughes still lived on the 11th Street property where his family first settled in 1900.
NETTED: A blitz on fishing regulations in Sunraysia over the Melbourne Cup weekend saw local anglers fined more than $4500. The operation saw over 250 kilometres of the Murray from Nangiloc to the South Australian border, covered and 231 anglers visited. District Fisheries officer Andrew Driscoll handed out 20 infringement notices for various reasons. Mr Driscoll said the main areas of concern were the numbers of anglers without a current NSW fishing licence and the incident of Murray Cod being taken during the closed season period. Mr Driscoll said “many people may not realise that regardless of whether anglers are fishing from the Victorian side of the river or the New South Wales side of the river, an NSW licence is required. The largest fines were dealt out to two fishermen who were each fined $500 for taking cod. The closed season for cod is in place to ensure the species continued to be part of the Murray River System.
